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Modern developments in computer and software systems have raised many challeng
ing issues concerning the design and efficiency of complex programming applica
tions. There is an increasing need for "advanced theory", to understand and exploit
basic concepts and mechanisms in computing and information processing. The
Handbook of Theoretical Computer Science is designed to provide a wide audience of
professionals and students in Computer Science and related disciplines with an
overview of the major results and developments in the theoretical exploration of
these issues to date.
There are many different roles for "theory" in Computer Science. On the one hand
it provides the necessary mathematical foundations for studying formal systems and
algorithms that are needed. On the other hand, it provides concepts and languages to
capture the essence, in algorithmic and descriptive terms, of any system from
specification to efficient implementation. But the mathematical frameworks that have
proved to be invaluable for Computer Science are used increasingly in many other
disciplines as well. Wherever notions of information or information processing are
identified, questions of representation and computation can be formalized in com
puter science terms. Theoretical Computer Science concerns itself with all formal
models and methods and all techniques of description and analysis that are required
in this domain.
As a consequence there are many facets to Theoretical Computer Science. As a
discipline it employs advanced techniques from Mathematics and Logic, but at the
same time it has established its own formal models and fundamental results in which
the original motivations have remained visible. The Handbook of Theoretical
Computer Science attempts to offer an in-depth view of the field of Theoretical
Computer Science as a whole, by a comprehensive exposition of the scientific
advances in this area.
In order to keep the Handbook within manageable limits, it was decided to restrict
the material to the recognized core areas of Theoretical Computer Science. Even with
this restriction imposed, further choices had to be made in the subjects covered and
the extent of the material provided on each subject. The current version of the |
